ABSTRACT

The use of nanoparticles has grown tremendously in the past 25 years in virtually all industries from alternative energy formulations to drug delivery development and from semiconductor fabrication to cosmetic research. The main goal of this thesis is to shed light on the surface behavior of these universally used components. The thesis explores controlling surface reactivity of nanoparticles to great detail and concludes with a proven method to organize the nanoparticles using self-assembly. The consistent and reproducible organization of the nanoparticles has tremendous value in all industries using nanoparticles in lowering production and processing costs and time. The surface reactivity of the nanoparticles is found to be well-controlled. In Chapter 3, we show a method to control alkyne reactivity on nanoparticles using a mixture of organosilane monolayers. These surfaces have the unique ability to react with azide-terminated materials through the well-known copper catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition ‘click ’ reaction. We also put to use a new method to ensure that the mixed surface formed is reactively homogeneous; this novel technique will sure help research endeavors as this has not been demonstrated on surfaces of nanoparticles before